Thoracoscopic Esophagectomy in the Prone Position Versus the Lateral Position (Hand-assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery): A Retrospective Cohort Study of 127 Consecutive Esophageal Cancer Patients.

Purpose:To assess the validity of esophagectomy with the patient in the prone position (PP), the short-term surgical results of PP and hand-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (HATS) were compared.Methods:This study enrolled 127 patients who underwent esophagectomy with HATS (n=91) or PP (n=36) between October 1999 and September 2014. The patients' background characteristics, operative findings, and postoperative complications were examined.Results:The patients' background characteristics were not significantly different. During surgery, total and thoracic blood loss were significantly lower in PP than in HATS (P<0.0001, <0.0001). Other operative findings were not significantly different between the 2 groups. Postoperatively, recurrent nerve palsy was significantly less frequent in PP than in HATS (P=0.049). In the comparison between the recurrent nerve palsy-positive and palsy-negative groups, sex (male) and preoperative respiratory comorbidity (negative) were significantly correlated with recurrent nerve palsy.Conclusions:In thoracoscopic esophagectomy, the PP was associated with lower surgical stress than HATS, with equal operative performance oncologically. The PP could prevent recurrent nerve palsy because of the magnified view effect.